#molibium

"(hand signs) <Tomb my gold~ Tomb my gold~ Take that yellow into those molds. All that sheen and all that gold, throw it in a casket for those future woes~>" -Aki

Aki is mute, she can hear just fine but she can't speak. She has lost the ability as a side effect of the Shifting many years ago. Even Theo who had been with her the longest has never heard her voice. Her throat, while perfectly healthy, is unable to vocalize any sound, not even the mildest of screams or laughter is available to her. But this doesn't stop her from being the loud and outgoing girl that she is. She is still able to make sounds that are derived purely from pushing or sucking her breath through her mouth or nose, such as whistling, sighing, snorting ect. She is able to 'laugh' in her own way through this method.

But most importantly, she mainly expresses herself via her very own home made sign language.

In Crown, how the deaf and mute deal with communication is a problem to be solved by the affected individuals and their local communities. There isn't a shared or standardized sign language system and as such, any sign language used in this region is almost always unique to a person or settlement. Aki is no exception to this common rule.

"(hand signs) <I'm not a fan of riding inside BUTTTT it's fun to hang onto the roof while it's moving, you should try it!>" -Aki

(The exterior of Aria's Automo, also known as her mini house on wheels. Colors not shown. Theo for scale as he is the tallest)

As most freelance Mappers are homeless wanderers, whatever they are carrying with them is most likely all they have to their name. Some mappers like the non committal lifestyle of just having a large backpack with them, while others are hoarders and end up with more or less a permanent mobile home in the form of a wagon of sorts. The most common type of mobile home is a wagon pulled by some sort of animal. But more rarely, the Mapper might have an Automo.

Automo is a catch all term for vehicles that moves by magic. What sort of magic HIGHLY depends on the manufacturer, every manufacturer has their own way of doing things. As Automos are basically large scaled magic devices, they take a lot of work to produce and gets an extremely hefty price tag due to that. Most Automos belong to a group or company, to own one as a personal asset is a luxury and a one time flex to say the least.

(Interior of Aria's Automo, what it mostly looks like when everything is still neatly in their storage compartments. Driving control levers are not shown.)

Automos are always customized to some extent when they are bought, for better customer experience and less complaints. Aria's Automo is most notably customized to have a set of Mapping tools built right into the Driver's dashboard. It makes it more convenient to record location data while driving. The driver's seat can also recline fully to connect with the bed behind it, forming a full length bed. The interior of Aria's Automo is quite lived in, stock full of daily supplies and stuff that she held onto across the years, only out of view in cupboards as it would tumble around on a drive if it wasn't. Most of the items belong to Aria but there has been an increasing number of items that belongs to Theo and Aki mixed in since they joined her.

"Rats! It's always the rats that gets messed up somehow!" -Aria

(Aria and kids stayed over in an unoccupied farm house they found while traveling. After clearing the place of dangers and barricading the doors, it was finally time to steal the beds for a night's rest. Unfortunately, the scurrying footsteps coming from the ceiling of the room has proven to be too annoying to ignore.

The conversation after Aria returned to the two teens is as follows:

Aki: (Hand signs) So, what was actually thumping around in the attic? Aria: Meh, nothing new. An oversized mutant rat. Theo: Again? How many did we even find this month alone? Aria: Too many. *tucks herself in bed * Well anyway, it won't be bothering us anymore. Night, kids. Theo: Hey, don't leave it at that! At least tell us what it looked like. Aria: Fly eyes and human hands. Aki: (Hand signs) Ew, gross!

The lights go out and the three slept soundly, beds were the best when compared to sleeping bags!)

Yes, that was a house rat, no, that is NOT what a normal rat in Molibium is supposed to look like! The average rat in Molibium is a small and cute furry critter that runs around on four tiny feet and wreaks havoc by gnawing on any furniture they can find.

But this is a perfect example, extreme even, of what could happen when a living thing experiences changes after the yearly Shifting. For some unknown reason, rats seem to have a low luck score when it comes to avoiding changes. Compared to other animals and monsters, they are almost always guaranteed to mutate in some way after the Shifting, rats that stay unchanged after the event are extremely rare.

The changes however are not always this extreme, about two thirds of the time it could be mild changes varying from a small change in size to uniquely colored and textured fur, and... maybe some extra body parts or unnaturally enhanced abilities thrown in for good measure.

"I knew it was too quiet. Well, at least it's settled kids, we can camp here tonight. Maybe we can find some seasonings to flavor these tomatoes with around here. You wanted to get your hands on some basil right, Theo?" -Aria

(Aria and kids found a lone farm while traveling. As it was starting to get a little late, Aria decided to check if the owners could let them camp on the property for the night. Unfortunately, the owners seem to be a little occupied at the moment.)

Tomatoes on Molibium are vegetative monsters that can grow to roughly the height of an adult human. They are completely carnivorous and their preferred prey are humans and large animals like pigs and cows, though if their preferred option is hard to come by in the area, they will eat smaller animals and occasionally, even their own kind. Funnily enough, the circle of life works in comical ways as these monsters are also eaten by humans and considered a type of game meat for vegetarians. Yes, its a vegetarian option.

The Tomato moves it's body by rolling itself. It can also jump by bouncing itself against a hard surface, but this is not common and only some Tomatoes do this. It's usual hunting method involves tracking down its prey via the leafy tendrils on the top of its body and tackle into the target with its impressive rolling speed. Tomatoes are often described as a softer wrecking ball, it is a well known fact that a fully grown Tomato can ram into an averagely built wooden wall and break a hole through it after two strikes. Once the prey is dead from the impact of their attack, the Tomato absorbs its meal bit by bit through its selectively permeable skin.

"Hey, remember the mines we used to live in, Aki? I wonder if it moved this year." -Theo

A noticeable percentage of orphanages in Kogbor are actually companies, most commonly being independent mining town companies. These companies are solely run by miners from their homes built within the mines. They have their own full time workers, also known as the local townspeople, but they often gather orphans from the nearby areas to bolster their workforce.

The orphans are not paid for their work but are fed, dressed and educated by the company. Once the orphans grow past the point of being the right size for 'crawler' work, they are usually listed as full time employees. These older orphans are stuck working with the company till they are done paying off the 'food and lodging' debt attached to them. As the debt usually takes about a decade of work to pay off, most orphans end up getting too comfortable with the familiarity of the mining town and decide to stay for the long haul, thus becoming part of the next generation of townspeople.

"(hand signs) <I'm just gonna call it as it is, it's piss! Cloud piss!>" -Aki

(Behold, the majestic sight of a mature Cumulus. Take note of the smaller juvenile Cumulus nearby)

Yes, Cumulus aren't clouds at all. They just look like clouds. Surprisingly, they don't need much nutrients to survive despite their large size. Cumulus feed by extending a long proboscis from its fluffy form into a body of water and sucks up the liquid along with anything else in it. After that, its just a matter of digesting the contents before releasing it back out in a short rainfall of purified water and assorted aquatic objects.

"If you ask me, the most stressful thing about the job is the race to be the first good map on the market. Can't haggle when you're the only one selling." -Aria

(While exploring the area, the three found a forest patch that mutated into some funky interesting landmark. Having actual picture proof of a landmark is a great sales point!)

Due to the yearly Shifting, freshly updated maps are highly sought after in Molibium, especially during the months directly after the shift.

In Crown, Mappers are your go to people for these maps. Some territories rely heavily on the work of freelancers while others have their own band of organized Mappers or a mix to call upon. That said, all of the mapped routes within the territories of Kogbor and Tagdor are provided by the various freelancers drifting around the place.

A Mapper's job consists mainly of collecting area information (visual descriptions, distance between landmarks, altitude ect) for map making, the more details the better. They earn a living by selling this information or more commonly and publicly preferred, their own homemade maps to towns and private estates.

Mappers are usually the busiest during the first half of the year. Due to the huge lack of confirmed area information during this time, people are usually more willing to buy new maps at a higher price point, mostly out of fear of missing out on the next big thing in their area. It's bad for the buyer's coffers but great for the Mappers'!

Aria is a seasoned freelance Mapper with a decent enough reputation attached to her mapmaker name, Tangerine Tiger. She had sold enough trustworthy maps in her time that maps with her maker stamp are more readily accepted as being priced as guarantied legitimate than any random newcommer's map. Unfortunately, she hasn't been the winner in most 'first in town' map races in a long while, thus her earnings aren't quite what one expects from someone of her reliable reputation.

It doesn't help her wallet that she has two growing tag alongs to feed. This is them, a cute company roster of three!

"Whoops, I dropped the game board again. Give me one sec to fix it. Huh? What do you mean this isn't what it looked like before??" -DM Moli

(Yes this dialog is a Madagascar reference and it fits LOL)

A majority of the land formation on Molibium actually shuffles around every year. The outline of the continent doesn't change, but the contents inside sure do! The change in landscape isn't completely random however. They can be described to be in a situation similar to the hexagon tiles found in tabletop games, but with odd sizes and an extra random effect table attached. This is why on Molibium, you could find a piece of desert right next to lush green lands and its completely normal.

Which reminds me of a tangent. This is DM Moli, or rather the figurative representation of the world of Molibium.

(Everything makes more sense when you imagine the world being run by a clumsy Dungeon Master and dice tables.)

Anyway back on topic, every end of the year the Shifting occurs. Its a event that lasts a few days. Most people stay in their homes or shelter and pray for the best. It is considered extremely silly and dangerous to go out during the Shifting as it is too unpredictable.

There are 4 outcomes that could happen to any size of land based on RNG, these are:

The area stays where it is, unchanged

The area stays where it is with local changes

The area gets moved or swapped with another area

The area gets moved or swapped with another area with local changes

Everyone usually deals with this shift in locations in their own way, some even forming alliances with each other to make reorganizing their trade routes smoother.

Most people can't tell you exactly where the boundaries of the 'area pieces' they live on are, so to speak. So, there are plenty of situations where someone's neighbor might get swapped with a forest while their own home stayed in place.

The distance of where an area is moved from its original spot is also randomized to an extent, the range of a Shift can start from merely showing up next door up to a whole continent over. But, it can be stated that the latter is a bit of a rare case. Most areas have a tendency to be region locked into their overall place in the world. Example: Crown areas have the highest likelihood of swapping between each other than with a region in the far west of the world.

If you figure staying in place with changes counts you as one of the lucky ones, well not quite. It does come with it's own can of worms. The places that experience changes can range from the mundane to the drastic. It could range from everyone's socks turning pink after the Shifting to everyone is now made of cheese, delicious edible cheddar cheese!

Well okay, let's not talk about the human cheese.